The appointment of Amr ibn al-Layth over the lands beyond the Balkh river

With seven days of Muharram remaining in 285 AH, a document appointing Amr ibn al-Layth al-Saffar over the territory beyond the river of Balkh, part of the lands of Transoxiana, was read out in the palace of al-Mu'tadid to a group of pilgrims from Khurasan. Ahmad ibn Isma'il was dismissed. ¹

Reading the investiture document to the pilgrims from Khurasan in the caliphal palace made them witnesses to the transfer of Transoxiana from the Samanids to the Saffarids. Two years later the battle at Balkh reversed that arrangement, when Isma'il himself captured Amr. ¹